I have had my F-702s for about three years now, and I am extremely pleased with them. No, they do not go way down into the bass range, but that is what its bigger brothers, the F-703 and F-704 are for.; those two models would have been a bit large and too dominating for the room ... and for the approval of my better half! I have supplemented these speakers with a pair of Rythmik F12SE subwoofers, which significantly improved the sound quality across the lower portion of the sound spectrum. These speakers are part of a system that includes a Rogue Audio RP-7 tube preamplifier, an Innuos Stream 1 streamer, a Schiit Gungnir2 DAC, and Odyssey Kismet monobloc power amplifiers. Cabling is Greenberg from the preamp to the power amps and 6 foot Silversmith Fideliums from the power amps to the speakers. I first drove these speakers with a 100 watt per channel solid state amp and was encouraged to try a high-quality tube amplifier; I did so and was disappointed with the result. I then traded the tube power amp for another piece of equipment and then purchased the Odyssey power amps, which put out roughly 200 watts per channel. The result was astounding, especially when I switched to the Silversmith Fidelium cables. Even my non-audiophile but music loving wife commented not he improvement in sound quality, tonality, and sound stage. I have the piano black finish models and I use them mostly with the grills on because we have a wonderful Shetland Sheepdog that sometimes bumps into the speaker. I like to listen at a moderately loud level, but nowhere near concert levels. I have found that the speakers "open up" with my system having the Rogue Audio RP-7 preamplifier gain set at about 100 (which is about half-way) for most recordings. My music tastes range from Beethoven, Schubert, and Richard Strauss to the Moody Blues, Creedence Clearwater Revival, through Big Band music of the late 1930s and 1940s, to both male and female vocalists, such as Tony Bennet, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, and some of the modern contemporary vocalists. Several performances that I think adequately show the capabilities of my system are the Moody Blues' "Never Comes the Day," Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again," CCR's "Cotton Fields" and "Midnight Special," the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty Four," and Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, the latter performed by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra under George Szell from the mid-twentieth century, as obviously processed and cleaned up then presented on the Tidal streaming platform via my Innuos Stream 1 with LPS1 power supply and Phoenix USB reclocking module.
The speakers are placed about two feet from the side walls and about three feet from the wall behind them. My listening position is about nine feet from the speakers, with both speakers toed in. The room is approximately 13 x 18, but it is open behind my listening position to our foyer, which extends six feet further. To the left of the left speaker is a 7' x 8' opening to the dining room. The ceilings are 8' throughout. The room is carpeted, although the adjacent dining room is hardwood flooring. The room has a large leather couch between the speakers, two leather recliners, and two smaller leather swivel chairs. I have not yet done anything in terms of sound treatments.
Probably the most notable element of the sound quality of these speakers is the sound stage. The sound does NOT seem to be coming from the speakers, but rather from an area extending beyond the speakers to the left and right, above the speakers, and generally from the plane of the front of the speaker extending rearward BEYOND the back wall, perhaps by several feet. I am simply amazed by the soundstage and imaging of these speakers. Instrument tonality is excellent for both woodwinds and brass. The bass response is acceptable without the subwoofers, but the subs definitely help with the lower bass and seem to also have an impact on the upper bass and midrange response. High frequency response seems excellent, but I must state here that my hearing drops off at about 13 kHz, most likely due to extensive exposure to small arms fire and artillery and mortar fires from my service in Vietnam. Instruments like the triangle, oboe, and piccolo sound excellent and very clear. Having played both the trumpet and the French Horn in a very good and award-winning high school concert band in the late 1950s and early 1960s, I can say that the reproduction of trumpets and French Horns is simply superb. Again, the imaging, tonal qualities, and sound stage of these speakers is simply superb, but my personal experience has shown me that those characteristics are influenced strongly by having quality cables--but not necessarily those priced in the stratosphere--and a suitable amplifier of sufficient power; my experience is that amplifiers rated in the 150 to 200 watts per channel range should be more than adequate for most listeners.
I realize that the higher F-700 and F-700SP series would bring improvements to sound quality, but I don't believe the cost involved would be justified by the improvement in sound quality. So, these are my end-state speakers. I have ordered a Rogue Audio RP-9 preamplifier and will soon be having my monobloc Odyssey Kismet amplifiers upgraded in terms of power supplies and having them converted to stereo amplifiers to that I can vertically bi-amp the F-702s, and, I may consider upgrading my DAC at some point in the near future, although I am quite pleased with the Gungnir 2, which gets very good reviews. Given that I am now considered to be among the "elderly," that will be my end-state system, primarily because I cannot perceive how my system could be significantly improved without spending a very great deal of money.
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